Dead Man's Walk
Encyclopedia
Dead Man's Walk is a 1995 novel
by Larry McMurtry
. It is the third book published in the Lonesome Dove series
, but the first installment in terms of chronology. McMurtry wrote a fourth segment to the Lonesome Dove chronicle, Comanche Moon
, which describes the events of the central characters' lives between Dead Man's Walk and Lonesome Dove. The second novel in the "Lonesome Dove" series was the 1993 sequel to the original, called Streets of Laredo
.
on a fictional expedition based loosely on the historical Santa Fe Expedition of 1841.
the reader finds McCrae and Call as young additions to the Texas Rangers. The two young Rangers are introduced quickly and brutally to the rangering life on their first expedition, in which they are stalked by the Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump
. After a narrow escape, the rangers return to civilization, only to quickly join an expedition to capture and annex Santa Fe, part of New Mexico
(the part east of the Rio Grande
) for Texas
. The expedition, led by pirate and soldier of fortune Caleb Cobb, is ultimately a failure; of the 200 initial adventurers, only about 40 survive, falling to starvation, bears, and Indians (in one memorable chapter, the Comanche ignite the grasses surrounding the ranger camp, forcing rangers to jump over the edge of a canyon to escape the flames), only to be swiftly arrested by the Mexican authorities. Those survivors are forced to march the Jornada del Muerto
("Dead Man's Walk") to El Paso, and many, Mexican and Texan alike, die along the journey. The Texas contingent is reduced to ten persons when the captives panic after they observe cavalry drilling, and are slaughtered in a blood lust as they flee. At their destination, the ten are forced to gamble for their lives by drawing a bean from a jar - a white bean signals life, a black bean death. Call and McCrae are among the five survivors. The last Rangers then return to Texas, escorting an Englishwoman and her son who have also been held captive by the Mexicans.
During the course of this book, three other familiar and important characters are introduced. At a general store, Augustus McCrae meets Clara Forsythe, later to marry Robert Allen and become Clara Allen, Augustus's old flame in the original novel. In the same town, Call meets a prostitute named Maggie, later to become the mother of his illegitimate son, Newt. On their journey, they are tracked by Buffalo Hump, future father of Blue Duck, whom they will hunt during their later days as Texas Rangers and during the Montana
expedition chronicled in Lonesome Dove.
did indeed attempt to annex part of New Mexico, in what historians refer to as the Santa Fe Expedition. As seen in this story, it was a failure. The incident involving the drawing of beans to decide who would be spared, however, is actually loosely based on the fate of the so-called Mier Expedition
prisoners, in which the historical Bigfoot Wallace was, in fact, a participant. Bigfoot Wallace, though, died over 50 years later in 1899, unlike this fictional story's character of the same name.
The characters of the novel briefly encounter an individual who identifies himself as "Charlie Goodnight," and who warns them against continuing their expedition based on his superior knowledge of the terrain and geography. The non-fictional Charles Goodnight
was one of the most famous cattle ranchers in Texas history, and is sometimes called "the father of the Texas Panhandle
." The historical Charles Goodnight, however, was a young boy at the time of the events portrayed in the novel, having been born in 1836.
Major Randall Chevallie, who appears in the first part of the novel, may be loosely based upon Major Michael Chevallie, an actual leader of the Texas Rangers
who led "Chevallie's Battalion
" in the Mexican-American War, and who participated in the Battle of Monterrey
. Although the book suggests the fictional Major Chevallie died in San Antonio, Texas
shortly after the events recounted in the early part of the novel, in actuality the historical Major Chevallie lived until 1852, and died in Stockton, California
.
The two Indian scalpers who appear in the book -- James Kirker
and John Glanton -- are likewise actual historical figures. John Glanton is perhaps best known for his central role in Cormac McCarthy
's own famous American novel about the Indian scalping trade, Blood Meridian.
In her attempt to unnerve the Comanches by playing to their superstitions, Lady Carey sings Verdi arias. She also claims to have studied singing under Verdi. In 1841, Verdi was 28, and his first major success, Nabucco
, was a year in the future. The author is apparently stretching the truth to make the clever ending possible.
starring David Arquette
as Augustus McCrae and Jonny Lee Miller
as Woodrow F. Call.
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
by Larry McMurtry
Larry McMurtry
Larry Jeff McMurtry is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas...
. It is the third book published in the Lonesome Dove series
Lonesome Dove series
The Lonesome Dove series refers to a series of four western novels written by Larry McMurtry and the four television mini-series based upon them.-Novels:# Lonesome Dove # Streets of Laredo # Dead Man's Walk...
, but the first installment in terms of chronology. McMurtry wrote a fourth segment to the Lonesome Dove chronicle, Comanche Moon
Comanche Moon
Comanche Moon is a 1997 western novel by Larry McMurtry. It is the fourth and final book published in the Lonesome Dove series, but the second installment in terms the chronology of the narrative.-Plot introduction:...
, which describes the events of the central characters' lives between Dead Man's Walk and Lonesome Dove. The second novel in the "Lonesome Dove" series was the 1993 sequel to the original, called Streets of Laredo
Streets of Laredo
Streets of Laredo is a 1993 western novel by Larry McMurtry. It is the second book published in the Lonesome Dove series, but the fourth and final book chronologically. It was adaptated into a television miniseries in 1995.-Plot introduction:...
.
Plot introduction
Dead Man's Walk details the earliest adventures of the young Augustus McCrae and Woodrow Call as they join up with the Texas RangersTexas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
on a fictional expedition based loosely on the historical Santa Fe Expedition of 1841.
Plot summary
In this first prequel to Lonesome DoveLonesome Dove
Lonesome Dove is a 1985 Pulitzer Prize–winning western novel written by Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the Lonesome Dove series, but the third installment in the series chronologically...
the reader finds McCrae and Call as young additions to the Texas Rangers. The two young Rangers are introduced quickly and brutally to the rangering life on their first expedition, in which they are stalked by the Comanche war chief Buffalo Hump
Buffalo hump
Buffalo Hump was a Native American War Chief of the Penateka band of the Comanche Indians...
. After a narrow escape, the rangers return to civilization, only to quickly join an expedition to capture and annex Santa Fe, part of New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico is a state located in the southwest and western regions of the United States. New Mexico is also usually considered one of the Mountain States. With a population density of 16 per square mile, New Mexico is the sixth-most sparsely inhabited U.S...
(the part east of the Rio Grande
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
) for Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
. The expedition, led by pirate and soldier of fortune Caleb Cobb, is ultimately a failure; of the 200 initial adventurers, only about 40 survive, falling to starvation, bears, and Indians (in one memorable chapter, the Comanche ignite the grasses surrounding the ranger camp, forcing rangers to jump over the edge of a canyon to escape the flames), only to be swiftly arrested by the Mexican authorities. Those survivors are forced to march the Jornada del Muerto
Jornada del Muerto
The Jornada del Muerto in the U.S. state of New Mexico was the name given by the Spanish conquistadors to the Jornada del Muerto Desert basin, and the particularly dry stretch of a route through it.The trail lead northward from central Spanish colonial New Spain, present-day Mexico, to the farthest...
("Dead Man's Walk") to El Paso, and many, Mexican and Texan alike, die along the journey. The Texas contingent is reduced to ten persons when the captives panic after they observe cavalry drilling, and are slaughtered in a blood lust as they flee. At their destination, the ten are forced to gamble for their lives by drawing a bean from a jar - a white bean signals life, a black bean death. Call and McCrae are among the five survivors. The last Rangers then return to Texas, escorting an Englishwoman and her son who have also been held captive by the Mexicans.
During the course of this book, three other familiar and important characters are introduced. At a general store, Augustus McCrae meets Clara Forsythe, later to marry Robert Allen and become Clara Allen, Augustus's old flame in the original novel. In the same town, Call meets a prostitute named Maggie, later to become the mother of his illegitimate son, Newt. On their journey, they are tracked by Buffalo Hump, future father of Blue Duck, whom they will hunt during their later days as Texas Rangers and during the Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
expedition chronicled in Lonesome Dove.
Characters in "Dead Man's Walk"
The names in parentheses are the names of the actors who portrayed the specified character in the movie.- Augustus McCrae (David Arquette) – Texas Ranger
- Woodrow CallWoodrow F. CallWoodrow F. Call is a fictional, Scottish-born Texas Ranger who appears in all four books of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series. Much of the books revolve around his relationship with his Ranger partner Augustus McCrae...
(Jonny Lee Miller) – Texas Ranger - Long Bill Coleman (Ray McKinnon) – Texas Ranger
- Johnny Carthage (Tim Blake Nelson) – Texas Ranger
- Colonel Caleb Cobb (F. Murray Abraham) – pirate who leads the Santa Fe expedition
- Bigfoot WallaceWilliam A. A. WallaceWilliam Alexander Anderson "Bigfoot" Wallace was a famous Texas Ranger who took part in many of the military conflicts of the Republic of Texas and the United States in the 1840s, including the Mexican-American War.-Biography:...
(Keith Carradine) – scout - Shadrach (Harry Dean Stanton) – scout
- Matilda Roberts (Patricia Childress) – whore, also known as "The Great Western"
- Captain Salazar (Edward James OlmosEdward James OlmosEdward James Olmos is an American actor and director. Among his most memorable roles are William Adama in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica, Lt...
) – Mexican who takes the Texan prisoners across the desert - Major Laroche (Joaquim de Almeida) – Frenchman in the Mexican military, who takes the prisoners to the leper colony
- Buffalo HumpBuffalo Hump (Lonesome Dove series)Buffalo Hump is a Comanche Indian who appears in two books in the Lonesome Dove series. His son, Blue Duck is also a major character.The character Buffalo Hump was likely inspired by the historic Comanche war chief of that name.-Dead Man's Walk:...
(Eric SchweigEric SchweigEric Schweig is a First Nations actor best known for his role as Chingachgook's son Uncas in The Last of the Mohicans .-Early life:...
) – Comanche war chief - Kicking Wolf (Jonathan Joss) – Comanche warrior, accomplished thief
- Clara ForsytheClara Forsythe AllenClara Forsythe Allen is a fictional character who appears in the Lonesome Dove series. The novels were written in a different order than the chronology of the narratives: Lonesome Dove , Streets of Laredo , Dead Man's Walk , and Comanche Moon .-Dead Man's Walk:Clara makes her first chronological...
(Jennifer Garner) – young lady in a general store in Austin, who 'smites' Gus - Lady Lucinda Carey (Haviland Morris) – Scottish nobility, leper
- Willy (Adam Lamberg) – Lady Carey's son
- Mrs. Chubb – Lady Carey's attendant
- Emerald (Akosua Busia) – Lady Carey's attendant
- Maggie TiltonMaggie TiltonMaggie Tilton is a fictional character appearing in two books in the Lonesome Dove series. She is a prostitute and the lover of Captain Woodrow F...
(Gretchen Mol) – a whore who loves Woodrow F. CallWoodrow F. CallWoodrow F. Call is a fictional, Scottish-born Texas Ranger who appears in all four books of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove series. Much of the books revolve around his relationship with his Ranger partner Augustus McCrae...
.
Allusions/references to actual history, geography and current science
Although the exact time frame of the story is not given, the historical context of the events occurring sometime in the early 1840s is authentic. The Republic of TexasRepublic of Texas
The Republic of Texas was an independent nation in North America, bordering the United States and Mexico, that existed from 1836 to 1846.Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the state claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S...
did indeed attempt to annex part of New Mexico, in what historians refer to as the Santa Fe Expedition. As seen in this story, it was a failure. The incident involving the drawing of beans to decide who would be spared, however, is actually loosely based on the fate of the so-called Mier Expedition
Mier Expedition
The Mier Expedition, was an offshoot that developed originally out of the Somervell Expedition, which was a unsuccessful military operation launched in November 1842 by a Texian militia against Mexican border settlements. It included a major battle at Ciudad Mier on December 26 and 27, 1842 which...
prisoners, in which the historical Bigfoot Wallace was, in fact, a participant. Bigfoot Wallace, though, died over 50 years later in 1899, unlike this fictional story's character of the same name.
The characters of the novel briefly encounter an individual who identifies himself as "Charlie Goodnight," and who warns them against continuing their expedition based on his superior knowledge of the terrain and geography. The non-fictional Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight
Charles Goodnight, also known as Charlie Goodnight , was a cattle rancher in the American West, perhaps the best known rancher in Texas. He is sometimes known as the "father of the Texas Panhandle." Essayist and historian J...
was one of the most famous cattle ranchers in Texas history, and is sometimes called "the father of the Texas Panhandle
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...
." The historical Charles Goodnight, however, was a young boy at the time of the events portrayed in the novel, having been born in 1836.
Major Randall Chevallie, who appears in the first part of the novel, may be loosely based upon Major Michael Chevallie, an actual leader of the Texas Rangers
Texas Ranger Division
The Texas Ranger Division, commonly called the Texas Rangers, is a law enforcement agency with statewide jurisdiction in Texas, and is based in Austin, Texas...
who led "Chevallie's Battalion
Battalion
A battalion is a military unit of around 300–1,200 soldiers usually consisting of between two and seven companies and typically commanded by either a Lieutenant Colonel or a Colonel...
" in the Mexican-American War, and who participated in the Battle of Monterrey
Battle of Monterrey
In the Battle of Monterrey during the Mexican-American War, General Pedro de Ampudia and the Mexican Army of the North was defeated by U.S...
. Although the book suggests the fictional Major Chevallie died in San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
shortly after the events recounted in the early part of the novel, in actuality the historical Major Chevallie lived until 1852, and died in Stockton, California
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
.
The two Indian scalpers who appear in the book -- James Kirker
James Kirker
James Kirker was an Irish born, American pirate, soldier, mercenary, merchant, fur trader and scalp hunter. He came to New York at the age of 16 and soon joined a privateer ship hunting for British merchant ships in the war of 1812....
and John Glanton -- are likewise actual historical figures. John Glanton is perhaps best known for his central role in Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy
Cormac McCarthy is an American novelist and playwright. He has written ten novels, spanning the Southern Gothic, Western, and modernist genres. He received the Pulitzer Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction for The Road...
's own famous American novel about the Indian scalping trade, Blood Meridian.
In her attempt to unnerve the Comanches by playing to their superstitions, Lady Carey sings Verdi arias. She also claims to have studied singing under Verdi. In 1841, Verdi was 28, and his first major success, Nabucco
Nabucco
Nabucco is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Temistocle Solera, based on the Biblical story and the 1836 play by Auguste Anicet-Bourgeois and Francis Cornue...
, was a year in the future. The author is apparently stretching the truth to make the clever ending possible.
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
It was later made into a miniseriesMiniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
starring David Arquette
David Arquette
David Arquette is an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, fashion designer, and occasional professional wrestler. A member of the Arquette acting family, he first became known during the mid 1990s after starring in several Hollywood films, such as the Scream series, Wild Bill and...
as Augustus McCrae and Jonny Lee Miller
Jonny Lee Miller
Jonathan "Jonny" Lee Miller is an English actor. During the initial days he was best known for his roles in the 1996 films Trainspotting and Hackers...
as Woodrow F. Call.